Where liberality/leniency not allowed in procedural law - G.R. No. 174193

G.R. No. 174193

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Likewise assuming for the sake of argument that consideration be given to petitioner’s willingness to comply with the rules since he attached postal money orders to his motion for reconsideration, the broader interest of justice will still not be served if petitioner’s appeal is reinstated. On one hand, petitioner calls for leniency to enable him to establish his case. On the other hand is respondent, which has been embroiled in a decades-long waiting game. The long-running dispute could be recapped thus: (1) petitioner’s predecessor-in-interest, Thelma, obtained a loan from respondent secured by a Real Estate Mortgage on the subject property; (2) Thelma was unable to pay the loan thereby causing foreclosure of the Real Estate Mortgage; (3) petitioner filed his civil action to question the validity of the public auction sale only on October 27, 1993 or 10 years after the sale was conducted; and, (4) from the time of the consolidation of title in the name of respondent in 1984 until the present, spouses De la Cruz have been in possession of the foreclosed property.
Petitioner and his sister Ruth Julian de la Cruz (Ruth) know that their mother Thelma has already lost ownership rights to the property in question when the latter defaulted in her payment to respondent and none of her successors-in-interest redeemed the property within the prescribed period. This is the reason why Ruth and her husband offered to purchase the property from respondent. However, when the said spouses De la Cruz defaulted in their payment, they refused to surrender the property to respondent. For his part, petitioner reinforces such refusal to surrender by questioning the validity of the public auction sale.

Now petitioner comes before this Court praying for leniency in the interest of justice. It must be stressed, however, that it is only when persuasive reasons exist that the Rules may be relaxed to spare a litigant of an injustice not commensurate with his failure to comply with the prescribed procedure.[56] Here, the Court finds that petitioner is under no threat of suffering an injustice. On the contrary, it will be the height of injustice if the Court accords petitioner leniency and reinstates his appeal as this would mean further waiting on the part of the respondent which has long been deprived of its right to possess the property it owns.
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